A novice philosopher turned equestrian…

So, It’s Been A While

I’m not going to begin by apologising for my lack of contact. I’ve been busy and tired. Get over it.

We’ve been all systems go the past two weeks. Residential camps. We had the horsemanship camp last week which was a pretty good run. It was insanely busy with chattering teenage girls everywhere you looked. But it was a good chance for the horses to do some proper work and have a bit of fun. The girls we had on the actual camp were a great bunch and one girl brought her own pony along who very quickly stole my heart. Such a cute little palomino. Gorgeous. And nice to ride too, if a little stiff to the right.

That was a long week though, as we had 12 kids minimum every day! Six of which were on the yard all day rather than doing activities due to the nature of it being a horsemanship camp. We got through it though, and young Maggie had a bit of extra training. She was broken to the bridle, which was good, and we did some ground training with her, with lots of leading work and getting her to yield to pressure and learn respect for her handler. She’s such a good little mare though. Love her!

The week just gone has been pretty full on as well. It was the last camp of the summer, so we really tried to pull out all the stops to make it good. We had five regular residentials, girls I met last summer and October and the beginning of this summer too. Plus a handful of other campers too. I taught a whole load of lessons, digging out and dusting off my teaching skills. They all went pretty well and I had the kids cantering around, jumping fences and all sorts. They did great, and I enjoyed having the chance to exercise my brain by planning out lessons and sometimes thinking on the spot to rectify a situation. It was fantastic to see the kids improve from day to dayas well, telling me I was doing something right! Excellent stuff.

My lovely parents also came to visit me this week, staying in one of the holiday houses here. I’ve seen them every day, despite actually forgetting they were here on more than one occasion. I’ve continued as normal you see, working away like a busy little bee, seeing them in the mornings when they’ve come down to the yard, and in the evenings when I’ve gone up to them, or they’ve come down to the house to see everyone here. It’s been nice having them here though, and they brought me a whole load of extra stuff from home that I’ll be needing over the course of the coming year. Winter clothes in particular!

Last Friday brought us a new horse, who is absolutely beautiful with a big trot to die for! We have also acquired two donkeys. Or, more accurately, a donkey and her foal. So cute! He’s such a gorgeous little thing, tripping over his own feet and trying to pull hunks of grass out by the root. I think he’s going to be quite the character!

Speaking of which, I have been set a challenge to write some character based blog posts. I have met a huge rangeof different people, and it makes sense that I should give you an insight into some of them. Because they’re fantastic, charismatic, and worth knowing about. So my next post will be centred around a person. Or two. We’ll see how it goes.